| Critic |
Review |
Quote |
Analysis |
This Week's Verdict |
Michael Atkinson
Village Voice
|
49 Up |
"Seven Up! sought to probe English society as it was right then, 'when the shop steward and the executive of 2000 are seven years old.' Class was the not-so-secret subject initially, but with the press of years, something odd happened: life...We see the harrowing dynamic laid out for us like a timeline, and the effect of 42 years on a little girl's dimpled visage can be brutal to watch. Each Up film uses footage from the early films, and so the average participant moves in the blink of an eye from being an immaculate schoolkid sprout to being a heap of dead wood, plagued by obesity, alcohol, emotional wear, bad English dentistry, and the thrashing of time. For under-30 viewers who still think they're immortal, the latest installment could very well be the grimmest and most haunting of horror films." |
This is presumably the well-regarded Atkinson's last piece for the Voice, since they canned him this week. Making the point of his illuminating review that much more haunting. |
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Scott Foundas,
LA Weekly
|
The Departed |
"[T]he very vibrancy of this movie is tied to its familiarity, to the thrill of seeing 'Marty' shrug off his yen for enshrinement in some ersatz canon and rekindle the old razzle-dazzle — the pulse-quickening energy, the restless zooms and tracking shots, the explosions of gory violence — that once made every young film student in America want to be him (before they decided they wanted to be Tarantino instead)." |
That distant clucking you hear is the sound of a million pigeons across the country being crammed back into their respective holes, thanks to this and many reviews like it subtly (and not so subtly) bashing Scorsese's last few Oscar-nommed prestige pics, talking about how nice it is to have him back making crime flicks. |
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Manohla Dargis,
New York Times |
Shortbus |
"It may be no surprise that questions of beauty and the sublime, as well as those of politics, rarely factor into the equation when a frisky blond neighbor in a pornographic video casually drops by. But it's incredible how most nonpornographic films are also dumb about sex, particularly in America, where copulation too often leads to frenzied violence or soft-core clichés — Mr. Mitchell isn't the first nonpornographic filmmaker to incorporate sexually explicit material into his work, but he may be the most optimistic and good-natured...The man was born for vaudeville: he likes big laughs and gestures, both in abundance here as coupling bodies. He also likes funny noises, goofy accouterments and soapsuds of drama..." |
Is it just us, or does this review make John Cameron Mitchell sound like Kevin Smith, only with explicit sex? Also, review fails to note that the "frisky blond neighbor" does indeed exist in Shortbus. It's just that this time it's a young gay dude with dark hair. |
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Armond White,
New York Press |
Shortbus |
"A comical S&M scene in front of a penthouse view of Ground Zero says more about the Big Apple mood than the 9/11 Commission Report. Yet Shortbus avoids the usual hometown gloating by Hollywood-financed mascots Woody Allen and Spike Lee or even Andy Warhol's self-distancing party games. It succeeds because writer-director Mitchell's freaky-deaky social observations balance what's funny and what's cutting... Mitchell penetrates downtown outlawry and gets at the emotional need behind its liberated facade. The film is both satire and reportage...Fearlessly addressing the vulnerabilities hidden in hedonistic subcultures, Mitchell recognizes how uninhibited, licentious sex masks emotional displacement. His quartet fuck furiously in order to avoid connecting." |
Meaningless, alienated sex, emotional displacement, avoidance of human connection...Are we sure these people aren't heterosexuals? |
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Kyle Smith,
New York Post
|
Employee of the Month |
"Channeling some of the wrinkled charisma of Bill Murray in "Stripes, comedian Dane Cook shows leading-man potential in his first star turn, as a superstore boxboy named Zack who has to suffer the taunts of Vince (Dax Shepard), the obnoxious head cashier and 17-time employee of the month. Cook exudes so much cool, though, that it's a little hard to believe he could be such a failure. 'I'm having dinner with the old lady tonight,' he tells his pals, then goes home, where he lives with his grandma. His only ride is a clown-size motorcycle." |
Yeah. I don't get it either. How could a dude who lives with his grandmother and rides a clown-size motorcycle not be considered cool? Next you'll be telling me that they don't see the awesomeness of his propeller hat, either. The injustice!! |
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